"Because, of course, she's sure to guess that we're engaged."
"But, my dear child, you're not really engaged, at least not publicly. You must remember that."
"But I could tell Miss Verney as a great secret. And I know she won't tell anyone because once she told me a great secret about herself. Besides, she's gone to buy cakes for tea, and if I don't take Guy she'll be so dreadfully disappointed."
"Why can't you take Guy without saying anything about being engaged?" asked Mrs. Grey.
"Oh, because Miss Verney is so frightfully sharp, especially in matters of love. I think you don't like her much, Mother darling, but really, you know, she is sympathetic."
Mrs. Grey looked hopelessly round for advice, but as neither Margaret nor Monica were in the room, she had to give way to Pauline's entreaty, and the leave was granted.
When Guy arrived at the Rectory about three o'clock, he seemed delighted at the notion of going out to tea with Pauline, though he looked a little doubtfully at the others, as if he wondered at the permission's being accorded. However, they set out in an atmosphere of good-will, and Pauline was happy to have him beside her walking up Wychford High Street. Miss Verney's house was at the very top of the hill, which meant that the eyes of the whole population had to be encountered before they reached it. They could see Miss Verney watching for them, as they walked across the slip of grass that with white posts and a festoon of white chains warded off general traffic. The moment they reached the gate, her head vanished from the window; and they had scarcely rung the bell, when the maid had opened the door. And they were scarcely inside the hall, when Miss Verney came grandly out of the drawing-room (which was not the front room) to greet them.
"How d'ye do? How d'ye do? Miss Grey will have told you that I rarely have visitors. And therefore this is a great pleasure."
Pauline threw sparkling blue glances at Guy for the Miss Grey, while they followed her into the drawing-room full of cats and ornaments. The cats all marched round Guy in a sort of solemn quadrille, so that what with the embarrassment they caused to his legs and the difficulty that the rest of him found with the ornaments, Pauline really had to lead him safely to a chair.
"Have you been long in Wychford, Mr. Hazlewood?" enquired Miss Verney. "I fear you'll find the valley very damp. We who live at the top of the hill consider the air up here so much more bracing. But then, you see, my father was a sailor."